This invention relates generally to the marine boating arts and, more particularly, to a brace for supporting a boat windshield to provide stability thereto.
Open-top boats, such as cruisers and bowriders, are typically provided with a windshield projecting upwardly from the body of the boat forwardly of the operator""s station to deflect the wind as the boat is moving across the surface of the water. Since there is no permanent or fixed roof structure above the windshield, the windshield projects upwardly in a cantilevered manner. Also, typically, the windshields slant rearwardly toward the operator to decrease wind resistance and to add to the aesthetics of the boat. In boat designs often referred to as a bowrider, the compartment forwardly of the operator""s station is open for passenger seating. Access to this forward seating compartment is typically through an opening in the center of the boat, requiring the windshield to have a hinged component that can fold back to open the passageway to the forward compartment.
The typical cantilevered boat windshield is formed with a frame member extending around the perimeter of the windshield to support the glass or plexiglass forming the transparent portion of the windshield. To support the rearwardly slanting, upwardly cantilevered windshield, a brace member is provided to connect to the frame and to connect to the body of the boat, thereby preventing the windshield from deflecting rearwardly from both wind and human forces exerted thereon. For the bowrider-type of boats and others, these braces are typically positioned on opposing lateral sides of the passageway to the forward seating compartment and elsewhere along the length of the windshield to provide support for the windshield. Such placement of the braces allows the hinged portion of the windshield to be opened without reducing the support required for this style or type of windshield. Other non-opening styles of windshields also require support and the braces can be positioned behind the windshield to support the brace adequately to resist the forces exerted thereon.
Conventional boat windshield braces are formed from a fixed length of rod, typically aluminum or steel tubing, with pivoted connecting brackets mounted on the opposing ends of the rod to connect to the windshield frame and the boat body, respectively. The connecting brackets are generally formed with a pivot joint next to the rod so that the mounting bracket can be pivoted into a configuration for proper mounting to the windshield frame or boat body. Some braces are formed for the specific application and style of boat onto which the brace is to be used, and do not have pivoting ends to facilitate the fastening of the brace to the windshield or the support therefor. Most windshield braces are detachable to permit replacement when damaged.
One problem encountered with conventional boat windshield braces is the lack of versatility. While the connecting brackets have a degree of movement about the hinge or pivot point, the connecting brackets are not movable in all three dimensions. Furthermore, the placement of the braces is limited due to the fixed length of the rod, which requires a certain positioning in order to effect a proper fit for the brace. Lastly, these braces do not have a sufficient amount of flexibility to enable the connecting brackets to be oriented in a sharply angled configuration. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide an improved boat windshield brace that would provide a greater amount of flexibility in use and in installation.
It is an object of this invention to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art by providing a windshield brace for a boat that is adjustable in three dimensions.
It is another object of this invention to provide a windshield brace for a boat that is adjustable in length, adjustable in rotation, and adjustable in attitude of the mounting flanges.
It is a feature of this invention that the boat windshield brace is formed as two mating members that are engaged with one another along a major axis thereof by screw threads.
It is another advantage of this invention that the screw threads are finely formed to minimize lateral translation with the rotation of the threads.
It is an advantage of this invention that a single revolution of a first member relative to the other results in a translation of the first member of only approximately one-sixteenth of an inch.
It is another feature of this invention that the rotation of a first member relative to the other results in an orientational adjustment of the mounting flange on the first member to permit the mounting flange to be adjusted for proper orientation for the connecting of the mounting flange to the desired support structure.
It is another object of this invention to provide a windshield brace for a boat in which the brace has sufficient flexibility to permit utilization thereof in substantially all boat windshield installations.
It is still another advantage of this invention that the mounting flanges are pivotally adjustable about the respective pivotal mounting thereof to the brace members to permit an attitude adjustment of each mounting flange independently of the other mounting flange irrespective of the orientation of the mounting flanges.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an adjustable windshield brace for boats which is durable in construction, inexpensive of manufacture, carefree of maintenance, facile in assemblage, and simple and effective in use.
These and other objects, features and advantages are accomplished according to the instant invention by providing an adjustable windshield brace for boat windshields having sufficient flexibility to permit utilization on the windshields of many boat manufacturers. The brace is formed of two linearly extending members, one of which is provided with a bell to receive the other member. The belled brace member is formed with internal threading to be engageable with corresponding threads on the other brace member. The threads are finely formed to permit a linear translational movement of approximately one-sixteenth of an inch for each revolution of the brace members. Each brace member is provided with a mounting flange pivotally mounted on the respective opposing ends of the brace members to provide an attitude adjustment of the mounting flanges. Length adjustment and orientation adjustment of one mounting flange relative to the other mounting flange is accomplished by rotating the threads interengaging the two brace members. This three dimensional adjustment of the windshield brace permits the windshield brace to be adapted to many different windshield configurations. The belled portion on the one brace member hides the threads of the other brace member as the windshield brace is extended in length.